Wednesday, March 5

Was it difficult to address some of the subject matter? You talk a lot about your family and about racism in the ballet world.

Oh my goodness, this was like therapy! [Laughs.] Of course, sharing the really intimate details of difficult situations with my family was difficult, and so was trying to share the experience of being an African American woman in a way that makes people understand. I wanted to share stories and explain why I think these things happened — I didn’t want to put the ballet world in a bad light, just to enlighten people. It was a fine line of choosing the right wording.

Sports scientist Patrick Rump, the subject of a new documentary, is interviewed about injuries among ballet dancers.

And it has been harder still to break the ingrained code of silence that exists among dancers -- where fierce competition ensures they often conceal injury or weakness for fear of missing out on the best roles.

First, the most unusual news: A pair of ballerinas are taking star turns in theater productions. Good for them, and probably for us. New York City Ballet principal Tiler Peck will be featured in the Susan Stroman-choreographed “Little Dancer,” which takes place in Degas’s haunts, behind the scenes at the Paris Opera Ballet. And retired prima ballerina Alessandra Ferri stars in Martha Clarke’s “Cheri,” with American Ballet Theatre principal Herman Cornejo and Oscar-nominated actress Amy Irving.

The season is the final one to be programmed by the current director, Brigitte Lefèvre, who will retire on Oct. 31, making way for Benjamin Millepied, the former New York City Ballet principal who will take up the reins as director of dance on Nov. 1.

The Goh Ballet and Guangdong Modern Dance will collaborate on a new work.

“I think it’ll be a very interesting show, very stimulating,” she says of the collaboration, which was initiated by former National Ballet of Canada principal dancer Chan Hon Goh. Asked why, Bourget says she’s looking forward to seeing how her Chinese counterparts incorporate the “ideas and philosophies of martial arts” into their work, something that she and Hirabayshi have explored in their own choreography for Kokoro Dance.

A preview of upcoming dance events in Vancouver by Marsha Lederman in The Globe and Mail.

The demands of being an in-demand choreographer were getting to Crystal Pite, who took the ending of her company’s residency with Frankfurt’s Kunstlerhaus Mousonturm (a relationship that granted Kidd Pivot $500,000 in annual funding) as a cue to take a sabbatical. Anticipating a year of professional development where she would fill up with other art, Pite instead recharged her lithe batteries mostly by spending time with her son Niko, now 3, with whom she’d been touring since he was 7 weeks old.

“The goal is a corps of 24,” Webre said. Guest artists will likely step into the leading roles. David Hallberg, star of American Ballet Theatre and the Bolshoi Ballet, has been invited but Webre said he has not yet confirmed if he can perform. “I think we probably would have a guest in the Odette/Odile role, in addition to our artists,” Webre said. “But that’s still a little unformed.”

But to Diablo founder and artistic director Lauren Jonas, the most revelatory moments will be on the screen rather than the stage. That's because Diablo has produced a short film with commentary from luminary supporters like Oregon Ballet Theatre director Christopher Stowell. The words of praise for Diablo's lively dancing, accessible classicism, and community engagement (through its free in-school PEEK program) left Jonas verklempt at a recent test screening.

A review of the BBC's Ballet in the Blitz: How World War Two Made British Ballet by Sarah Crompton in The Telegraph.

This time the presenter was David Bintley, in his day job the director of Birmingham Royal Ballet, but – like Bussell – a TV natural with an unaffected love for his subject. He was the perfect choice for the programme because he stands in direct line to the events it described, from the moment when, at the Royal Ballet School, Ninette de Valois took his 17-year-old hand and taught him a solo. “It was like holding the hand of God,” he says.

It was a charming and occasionally – as when they had to flee Holland four days into their stay in May 1940, a few steps ahead of the invading German army – thrilling story. Even if the rarefied atmosphere surrounding the whole thing prevented it from becoming quite as moving or uplifting as we have come to expect from our tales of good arising from evil times.

“This program goes together like an appetizer, main course and dessert,” says artistic director Terrence Orr. “I really wanted to have the work of Julia Adam, to create its wonderfully intimate kind of dance in the August Wilson Center. To continue with the very inventive movement of Viktor Plotnikov and close with Dwight Rhoden's ‘Smoke 'n Roses' makes an awesome intimate program that people will go home singing.”